Sunday, July 10, 2005

IN DEFENSE OF PETA - CLICK HERE FOR MORE ESSAYS!

Lately, newspaper writers have been fond of blasting PETA, but these writers do little or nothing to alleviate animal suffering. For instance, they could write about the hundreds of thousands of animals that have been deliberately and maliciously killed by Safari Club International. Every year, hundreds of people are killed and wounded by hunters, but newspapers do not consider this a problem worth writing about. Millions of animals are tortured and killed every year in laboratories, but again, newspapers are reluctant to publish this information.

Occassionally, when an extremely egregious case of animal cruelty concerning dogs or cats is discovered, newpapers will rally against the animal abusers. But when it comes to everyday animal abuse in the form of sport, medical research, or factory farming, newspapers couldn't care less about reporting these atrocities.

Michael Fumento writes for Scripps Howard news Service and he wrote a commentary blasting PETA. I completely disagree with Michael Fumento's commentary "PETA must be stopped" (June 18, 2005). Fumento's argument against PETA concerns its undercover videotape of monkeys being abused by lab technicians at Covance primate testing lab. Fumento - who lacks even rudimentary sympathy and empathy for animals - found the PETA Web video totally innocous and accuses PETA of fabricating a case against Covance.

PETA's Web site shows a monkey being crammed into a glass tube. The Covance monkey cages are far too small and sterile to be considered humane. Animal rights people consider the psychological AND physical well being of animals to be of paramount importance. Monkeys can be seen pacing in their cramped quarters with nowhere to go but around in circles in their pathetically tiny, sterile wire cages. But none of this concerns Fumento - it's no skin off his back if animals are abused or neglected.

Fumento states that "real abuse would also violate the Animal Welfare Act." The flaccid Animal Welfare Act is a long-standing farce created by the U.S. government, and it is an impotent, weakly enforced piece of legislative feces. Budgetary constraints and strong opposition from animal breeders, pharmaceutical companies, and experimenters themselves, as well as an inadequate number of inspectors, have resulted in poor enforcement of the act.

Fumento obviously considers monkeys to be little more than resources. PETA may not win their case against Covance, but unlike Fumento, they know animal cruelty when they see it.

Fumento could have written about factory farm abuses which are more common than McDonald's junkfood. He could have written about what a scourge cattle ranching is on the environment and the millions of acres of tropical rainforests that are being destroyed by cattle ranching. He could have spoken out against the stupid rantings of Ted Nugent who claims to kill every cat that he sees. Read more about Nugent's dementia on this blog at "Ted Nugent is a Sadistic Animal Killer."

Across this weary planet, people love to complain about anything and everything: governments, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, Barbara Streisand, sports teams, jobs, bosses, wives, husbands, husband's wives - all are deserving, suitable targets. Animal rights people like to complain about how inhuman people can be towards animals. And there is much to complain about! It is that simple and that complex.

Where is it written that meat eaters are more ethical than vegetarians, vegans or animal rights activists? Look around and you'll see that our wars were not started by vegetarians. Was the Vietnam War - which killed, wounded and crippled hundreds of thousands of people - started and perpetuated by vegans? George Bush and Dick Cheney tossed this country into the Iraqi furnace; they definitely are not vegetarians. In fact, OldDick is an avid duck hunter.

Our jails, prisons, mental hospitals and entire penal system are not filled with vegetarians or animal rights activists. I'd like to see a single legitimate study showing that vegetarians have a higher percentage of wife-beating alcoholics than the general meat-eating public. Am I to believe that most pimps, drug users, drug dealers, prostitutes, killer cops and cop killers are vegetarians? Where are the studies proving that people eating a high animal-protein diet are living longer, healthier lives than strict vegetarians? I'll ask the more thoughtful reader this question: Of all the alcoholics, wife beaters, child abusers and drug addicts you may have known, how many of these people - and there are millions of them - were vegetarians or animal rights people? Probably none.

Osama Bin Laden and his merry band of head hunters are not vegans or vegetarians, and neither is George Bush or Dick Cheney. Perhaps if Old Dick had spent less time duck hunting and more time studying Middle Eastern policies, the U.S. wouldn't be embroiled in that vile Iraqi mess. The list of atrocities committed by meat eaters and people who are not animal rights activists is endless.

What I perceive is this: flesh-eaters exploiting other flesh eaters out of good-old-fashioned American greed. Look at the edipemics of heart disease, cancer and strokes, and you'll link them to double-bacon cheeseburgers, double - layer pizzas with extra toppings, fried chicken, etc. Vegans are not promoting this madness. Nor do vegetarians or animal rights people sell cigaretttes to lung cancer patients or whiskey to alcoholics. There is no evidence that animal rights people or vegetarians are heavily into drugs, alcohol, gambling, prostitution, wife beating, child abuse, street gangs, or police brutality.

Furthermore, numerous studies have determined that animal abusers can and will abuse children. Why aren't newspaper writers harping against people who abuse animals and children? Could it be that PETA - which is probably 70 percent female - is an easy target for newspaper writers who lack the courage and convictions to tackle bigger game.

People are foolish enough - or deluded enough - to put their faith in that crazy Atkins diet. They actually believe that eating liberally of meat, dairy, cheese, eggs and butter has no health consequences! What a convenient fantasy. Robert Atkins himself had suffered a heart attack while eating one of his artery-clogging, fat-laden breakfasts on April 25, 2002. But he and his cardiologist said it was not diet related! He was also clinically obese at the time of death. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that massive quantities of satured fat and cholesterol will eventually wreak revenge on the human body.

Read my essay on this blog titled "Vegetarians Have Less Disease," and you'll learn about the health benefits of eating a strict vegetarian and/or vegan diet. You'll learn that the vast majority of diseases can be reversed (cured) with a strict low-fat vegan diet. You will not aquire this knowledge from watching McDonald's or KFC commercials.

According to Kevin Trudeau's book "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About," the so-called "war on cancer" is a fraud. The book states: "Consider that modern Western medicine has "searched" for the "cause" and "cure" for cancer and other degenerative diseases for well over 100 years and has failed miserably even though:

1.) The mission was entrusted to the "best" researchers in the medical, academic and industrial sectors.

2.) They have private and government contracts with huge amounts of money.

3.) They falsify reasearch procedures, lie about results and cover for each other.

Dr. Linus Pauling, PhD., twice Nobel laureate, called the war on cancer largely a failure.

The natural porpose and driving force of the pharmaceutical industry is to increase their sales of pharmaceutical drugs that treat ongoing diseases, and to find new diseases or rename old diseases to market their existing drugs.

The eradication of any disease inevitably destroys a multi-billion dollar market for prescription drugs as a source of revenue. Therefore, deadly toxic chemical drugs are developed to treat symptoms but not cure anything."

It's been known for at least a hundred years that a natural raw foods diet, colonics, fasting, vitamins and minerals can be used to cure the vast majority of diseases. Pharmaceutical companies and the food industry control the media, and they absolutely do not want natural cures for any disease made known to the public.

Each year, on the average, two to three people are killed in every state by hunters and approximatey 1,000 people are wounded. In 1988, 177 people were killed and 1,719 were injured by hunters. And don't forget the 150 MILLION animals (or more) that are shot at, killed and wounded annually in the United States.

A solitary hunter was indicted for starting California's largest wildlfire - called the Cedar Fire - which killed 15 people, destroyed 2,200 homes and charred 273,000 acres! And the hunting industry tells us how safe and careful hunters are! We are told by newspapers and our state wildlife agencies how wonderful hunting is, and that we must recruit children as young as eight years old to keep up this stupid tradition.

It's interesting that butchering animals and eating them is considered more rational than protecting them. It seems the masses are more driven by money and the pleasure principle than concern for their fellow creatures. It may be more "normal" to die from heart disease than it is to be a vegan, but I'll choose the latter.

As a society we do not need a single slaughterhouse. Not a single one! Nor do we need fur coats or rodeos or even one lonely rancher. All this unnecessary oppression of animals is optional. It exists for two main reasons: animals are killed for profit and they're killed for pleasure.

Animal abuse is a paradox because it is both ubiquitous and hidden at the same time. We all live within miles of a windowless, depressing slaughterhouse. People fish near our homes, animals are hunted within miles of our residence. But all this is hidden from public view, except for fishing. Domestic dogs are chained in junkyards and low-rent neighborhoods. Yet, all of this mass abuse is totally uneccessary! Society appears sane and humane. Ah, but look closer, behind closed doors, in houses or apartments, in parks at night, and you'll find children and animals being abused. And this abuse is a hidden epidemic.

It is neccessary for society to trivialize animal suffering for it to continue its oppression of animals. And where is it mandated that society be driven by conscience? More precisely, it is driven by the pleasure principle, sex, greed and aggression which explains the untold crimes committed against humans and animals. The driving force in society is greed and satisfaction of the senses; the slightest dietary self-sacrifice is considered too radical for most people.

About Me

Scott is tired of the status quo. He likes his animal friends, including his cat, who is named Kitty. Scott has grown weary of political manipulators, which include anal control freaks such as the NRA, drug companies, timber companies, mining companies, and Rush Limbaugh. Too much TV is bad too, because it will permeate your psyche with fat-laden, artery-clogging junkfare, as the food profiteers and meat mongers try to seduce money from your pockets and purses. Television commercials will say anything to get your money, and when it comes to money and/or sex some people are completely shameless. Always remember this cold, hard fact: One man's meat is another man's poison. Scott believes in the virtues of vegetarianism and plenty of wide open spaces. Scott does not let the greedy, corrupt, cruel and wicked bullies go unscathed - he blogs them!